Create: Oct 12, 2019 Edit: Jan 21, 2020 TV
Airbnb is unveiling Animal Experiences – a brand new category of Airbnb Experiences that allow people to better understand animals through caring, expert hosts and set a new standard for animal tourism. With 1,000 Experiences co-hosted by over 300 species and their human advocates, guests can now paddleboard with corgis, kayak with conservationists, learn alongside urban beekeepers or skateboard with a world record-winning bulldog! Airbnb Animal Experiences offers a fresh new way to connect with animals near and far, so that even busy urbanites can reconnect with the natural world through hiking with rescue dogs, chilling out with alpacas or cuddling cows. Guests will meet animals in places that allow for gentle observation and bring a sense of connection far beyond animal selfies or performances. For those seeking more adventure, guests can discover arctic foxes or even help rescue puppies lost within the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. At Airbnb, we envision a world where everyone can belong anywhere. Today, we extend our passion for belonging beyond humankind, committing to protect the welfare of animals across any Experience that features them. Joining more than 40,000 Airbnb Experiences available across 1,000 cities worldwide, Airbnb Animal Experiences are underpinned by a new, industry-leading animal welfare policy, created in collaboration with World Animal Protection. Animals should be appreciated for their intrinsic value and this new animal welfare policy has been designed to ensure their wellbeing at all times. Ranging from afternoon tea with naughty sheep to multi-day safaris, Airbnb Animal Experiences are hosted by caring experts as an antidote to typical tourist attractions that are notorious for ethical concerns. You will never find an Airbnb Experience where you can kiss a dolphin or ride an elephant. Beyond helping people get to better understand animals and meet them in a new way, over 100 Airbnb Animal Experiences are Social Impact Experiences, cementing our commitment to animals in the long-term by directing all proceeds from bookings to nonprofits. Supporting causes such as conservation, animal rescue, and veterinary care, these Experiences help scale impact, foster empathy and include caring for rescued horses, seeing released macaws and spending a day with donkeys. Other notable Airbnb Animal Experiences will come to life both on and offline through an exclusive partnership with The Dodo, the leading brand for mobile animal content in the U.S. and one of the world’s most-engaged media brands on social. Airbnb Animal Policy Highlights We are the first major booking platform to offer a dedicated category of animal experiences underpinned by a progressive new animal welfare policy, created in conjunction with World Animal Protection. New highlights include: Wild animals: there should be no direct contact including, but not limited to, petting, feeding, or riding animals Working animals: maximum one rider and never more than 20% of the animal’s weight, never to be overworked Marine mammals: should never be in captivity for entertainment Broader host business: should not feature elephant rides, big cat interactions, illegal wildlife trade, sporting events such as canned and trophy hunting, animals performing for entertainment Responsible travel: no wild animals as selfie props or any negative training techniques World Animal Protection will continue working with Airbnb on its approach to animal welfare based on the latest evidence and research. ANIMAL EXPERIENCES HIGHLIGHTS: Tea with Naughty Sheep (Loch Lomond, United Kingdom) Meet the Dogs of Chernobyl (Slavutych, Ukraine) Discover Arctic Foxes (Sudavik, Iceland) New Zealand Getaway and Horseplay (Auckland, New Zealand) Gibbon Research Assistant Experience (Phuket, Thailand) Urban Rooftop Beekeeping (Hamilton, Canada) Butterflies and Caterpillars Oh My! (Columbus, Ohio) Meet Life-Saving Animals (Siem Reap, Cambodia) See Released Macaws (Nosara, Costa Rica) Ultimate Cape Town Birding (Cape Town, South Africa) Wild Brooklyn Parrot Safari (Brooklyn, New York) Go on a Safari with a Maasai Guide (Nakuru, Kenya) Hike Runyon Canyon with a Rescue Dog (Los Angeles, CA) A Day in a Gaucho’s Life in the Andes (Mendoza, Argentina)
Create: Oct 12, 2019 Edit: Nov 3, 2019 International NewsIn a blog post from September 18, Security researchers at Trend Micro revealed that they discovered credit card stealing malware (Magecart) hiding in an online hotel reservation system. It found that two hotel websites – from two different hotel chains – had been compromised since August 9. WHAT HAPPENED? Two hotel websites were "injected" with a JavaScript code to load a remote script on their payment page when the payment page was requested from a mobile device. The script acted as a credit card skimmer and stole payment information. To make it seem even more legitimate, the attacker prepared credit card forms in eight languages: English, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Russian and Dutch which match the languages supported by the targeted hotel websites. WHO WAS AFFECTED? While TrendMicro isn't revealing the name of the two hotel companies affected, it did say that the hotel websites were developed by Roomleader, a company from Spain that helps hotels build online booking websites. TrendMicro also revealed the size of the hotel companies. One brand has 107 hotels in 14 countries and the other has 73 hotels in 14 countries. EXPERT COMMENTARY HT spoke to two security experts about what this attack could mean for hospitality as a whole. "This latest attack is an indicator that Magecart attacks are far from over," said Deepak Patel, security evangelist at PerimeterX. "The modern web application stack relies on third-party scripts obtained from a variety of providers, not all of whom have strong security practices. Website owners lack visibility into the third-party scripts running on the users’ browsers within the context of their site. Many website owners are also unaware of all the first-party scripts running on their site. “In addition to staying up to date with the latest versions of critical platform components, website owners need to take another step: get visibility and control of all the scripts running on their website, whether first- or third-party or another part of the supply chain," Patel added. Matan Or-El, Co-founder and CEO of Panorays agrees with Patel noting: “This latest attack on Roomleader shows that Magecart isn’t going away anytime soon. To avoid these attacks, organizations obviously need to do a better job securing their own servers. However, even organizations that look after their own servers' security can become exposed through third-parties. Clearly, organizations must make it a priority to assess and manage the risk associated with third-parties in their cyber supply chain.” Similarly, Usman Rahim, Digital Security and Operations Manager for The Media Trust says, “Managing the digital supply chain is difficult because it requires the right tools and expertise. When third party code suppliers deliver code to users through browser and not through a tool that the website publisher/owner uses, the owner has little control of what happens and can't monitor when something's afoot. If a third party provides or supports the web application, iframes will fall victim to attack. The only way to protect users is to know who’s providing what code and what that code does to users.”
Create: Oct 12, 2019 Edit: Nov 3, 2019 International News